Sometimes It’s Worth Missing A Morning Smoothie – Day 88: Eating Well On $1 A Day

Today was the last day of house sitting meaning that it was a travel day. I know from past experience that these days are always stressful and a pain when it comes to this challenge. In addition to moving all my stuff back to my home base, I had to pick up the people I was house sitting for from the airport and take my parents to another airport for a vacation they were taking. It was going to be a full day with a lot of driving.

I had actually managed to get most of the preparation work done yesterday and was feeling pretty good that I wouldn’t be rushing about. I decided to get ahead of the game and go and fill up the car with gas before my morning smoothie. That would allow me to have about 2 hours before I needed to begin moving everything to get all the last minute things done. I headed to the gas station and I had just finished filling up the tank when I heard the voice of an older lady (in her early 80s I later found out) asking people walking by for help.

Her car had stopped and she had just barely managed to pull it into the gas station (the car was actually half on the sidewalk) and she wanted to know if anyone could fix her car for her. Since my car knowledge ranks right up there with my cooking knowledge, any help I would give was likely to do more damage than good in this situation, but I couldn’t believe that everyone was simply ignoring her. I walked over and asked her what the problem was.

The car had simply stopped running and she didn’t know what to do. It was obvious that she was in a bit of a panic. Then she said, “you can fix it for me, can’t you?” at which point I wondered what I had gotten myself into.

We lifted up the hood and it appeared that the car had overheated (there was antifreeze all over), but since I know little about cars, I wasn’t about to test my theory. I started asking questions to see what she wanted to do and if there was a way that we could resolve the problem. This was difficult because she thought I could fix the car (and she was still in a bit of a panic) that her focus wasn’t all there. After a bit I managed to get out of her that she did have AAA (although she had no idea where her AAA card was).

We spent half an hour looking through her purse, glove compartment and finally car before we found it under the passenger’s seat. I called AAA for her and explained the problem and they said that a truck should be there within an hour to help. Although I knew I really needed to get back, it was obvious that she was still uneasy about the whole situation and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone, so we sat and chatted until the AAA truck arrived.

The AAA man determined that it was the radiator that overheated and filled the car with the proper fluids. As I went to leave, the old lady thanked me and insisted on giving me a small kiss on the cheek for the help I had given. While it did make the rest of the day rather hectic getting everything done on time and I missed my usual morning smoothie, it was well worth it.

Fried Cheese Egg

By the time I arrived back, I didn’t have a lot of time. I simply threw an egg in the frying pan and then topped it with cheese – amazingly, despite the looks, it tasted pretty good (although at that point I was hungry enough that practically anything would have tasted good)

The rest of the afternoon I was on the road taking my stuff back to my home base, picking up the people I was house sitting for at San Francisco airport, dropping them off, getting my parents on the other side of the valley, taking them to San Jose airport and then finally home. I did have my trusty peanut butter sandwich and carrot sticks to tide me over and I also went through my last package of M&M’s pretzels.

Egg Fried Rice

By the end of the day, I was exhausted and in no mood to cook anything. I simply took the last of the veggie rice I had leftover and added an egg to make egg fried rice:

I’m just glad that there doesn’t look like there will be anymore traveling (always subject to change) before the end of the 100 days…

10 Comments

I don’t believe that. I think that most people want to help others, but they simply get too caught up in their own life and issues that they forget to take the time to do it. It’s hard to put aside extra time when you feel you are busy. I know – I have been there.

It definitely is hard to stop and realize a slight inconvenience for you can make a big difference to someone in trouble. The last time I saw someone with a flat tire when I was walking in a parking lot I stopped and asked if they would like some help. They politely declined but said I was the first person they had ever had ask if they needed help.

Ive had some people help me a lot in the past, everything from helping me get out of a snow bank to changing a tire. Unfortunately in most cases people won’t even stop if they see an accident right in front of their face. Its not my problem is the motto of our time.

As for the challenge, wow, here it is day 88 and you’ve used only $53! You’ve got so much food left, that if you were going to just make do with what you have now, you probably could. Though it would make for some odd meals.

Thank goodness you were there to help that poor old woman. Sometimes just being there can help so much.

I remember last year I was in traffic and approached a car accident that had just happened. A young woman in a VW bug had been hit in the rear side by a older woman in an equally tiny car. The bug careened into an electric pole, and the old woman hit a fence in front of the church she’d been trying to get to. What was amazing to me was that though there were a lot of people at the scene (No cops yet, it had just happened moments ago)- NO ONE was tending to the young woman. She was still sitting in her butterflied car with the door closed.

I went to her and helped her out of her car. She tried to call her mother on her phone but started shaking and crying instead. I stayed with her, left a message on her mother’s phone of what happened and that she needed a ride (The car was totalled), and waited with her through the paramedic’s inspection and until her mother came to get her.

Sometimes just being there, even if you don’t know the person, can make such a difference. Thank you for being kind.